Banos.
I wake up still feeling pretty rough but decide to attempt breakfast with Phil. I do just about manage that but conclude I am in no fit state to go on a walk-about in the town or to try one of the many hot baths that Phil has set his heart upon. I decide to stay in the dining room and spend the day backing up our photo’s and writing three more web entries. (The suffering I continue to endure to bring you stories for your educashun and pleasure !)
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001527.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The active volcano, Tungurahua, seen as we entered Banos.
Phil (and occasionally I), make a number of trips to the many hot baths (filled from hot natural springs) dotted around the town during the week, whilst I continue to recover. Banos is a quiet town and we both enjoyed relaxing, taking long breakfasts and generally taking things easy. We do though embark on one circular walk which takes us around part of the perimeter of Banos in the surrounding hills which wears us both out as it turns out to be about 6km over steep and rough terrain.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001510.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Phil at the end of one of the many "Gentlemens" breafasts we enjoyed in Banos.
We also tried to visit a local waterfall. On the drive out a young dog ran straight out under my front wheel-there was not a thing I could do except hold on and hope I didn't crash. It didn´t look-it wasn´t even aware that I was there. I stopped the bike and looked back, the dog was motionless and a boy was in the process of lifting him up. I drove back and by the time I'd got there, a man, presumably the boys father, was now carrying the dog, and the boy looked like he had another motionless dog in his arms now as well. I didn't know what to do. I shook my head with the sadness and confusion of the whole affair and looked at the man but he looked beyond discussion and just carried on walking. I didn't know what to make of it at all. The accident had happened in full view of an open air restaurant and a young business-like looking woman at a bus stop. I looked at them but they just seemed to accept it as part of normal Ecuadorian life, and I too, having been chased by countless dogs on the bike, had to accept it too. I know animal lovers in the UK will find this very hard to accept, particulalry my Mum, but there are many many wild and stray dogs out here-and they generally aren't seen or treated in the same way as at home. Very sad but a way of life here. Shortly after the accident the rain started to fall down and so Phil and I decided to return to Banos and do something else.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001499.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
One of two photos depicting Ecuadorian life making up a mural painted on a wall by a childrens play-sports area.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001494.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Originally we intended to leave Banos on the Wednesday but Phil is now near addicted to the hot baths and so we extend our departure to Thursday. I however realised on Thursday that I still needed to finish off a few jobs, such as sending my nieces and Nephews a few souvenirs home, and so the leaving day is extended yet further still again to Friday........ to Phil’s absolute delight !!
On the Friday morning we finally do actually leave Banos in a light drizzle and head off towards Cuenca, a city en-route to Peru. We are advised by Freddie, a guide we originally met in Otavelo, now here in Banos with a tour party, to take the first exit outside of town as the route is much quicker. We take his advice and the road deteriorates into ash and mud quite quickly. Soon we are discussing if we should continue or return to the “longer” route, but decide to continue. No sooner had we decided to stay with this route, we come to a river crossing where the bridge, and by the looks of it, half the surrounding hillside, had been taken out by an overflowing river. I look at the river and am relatively confident that I can make it across ok. However, the workman working on the new bridge are gesturing that there is an alternative route set up and I am dissuaded from trying to cross the river. (never again !) The track round turns out to be a nightmare in it’s own right. To start with, we have to take the bikes back up a muddy slope we’ve just come down, and then some more to take us up to a make-shift wooden bridge. The bridge was crude and was basically a series of 5” x 5”’s layed across some sort of support. To even start the crossing you had to bump your bike over the first ridge created by the first support and there was nothing at the sides to stop you falling off. I set off very wary, but realised that my aprehension had got to such a disproportionate stage, that it had becme a liability, so I had to just get on with t ! I make it but am immediately confronted with a muddy hairpin bend leading to a muddy/ash hill to my right. I’m concerned that I’m not going fast enough for the Dakar to keep sufficient momentum to avoid the rear wheel loosing grip and spinning. To my amazement the bike just chugs around the corner and up the hill. At the top we were confronted with a steep and muddy down-hill to negotiate. Neither of us are that happy but take it slowly and make it down safetly. The rest of this track is made up of mud and river crossings. By the end of it I’m really enjoying the challenges the track keeps presenting to us.
Eventually we’re back on the Pan American highway and quickly immersed in cloud which deteriorates into rain…and more rain until it is torrential. The road vacilates between being reasonable and awful with more potholes than road. This is the major highway through South America !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000940.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The Pan-American highway, one of the most major roads through South America !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001503.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
.....with added water feature in case you get bored dodging the pot-holes !
We stop for a coffee late in the afternoon and we are pretty well drenched. I take this opportunity to put on my BMW oversuit( Blobby suit to my friends!).
It’s a little late to keep dry but it does help keep me a bit warmer, and as the rain continues torrentially, actually does end up offering me additional protetction. Finally we reach Cuenca and Phil finds us a good hotel run by some Americans.
We have dinner in one of the smokiest atmospheres I have encountered since the average English pub in the 1970's and witness the beginning of a firework display in the town square to celebrate 450 years of its origin. Originally we see a guy running around with a large plaster/paper mache cow fixed to his head. On the cow are a number of fireworks exploding. As he runs around these fireworks are exploding into the audience, which has them running, and a small fireball ends up in a small boys coat hood which somebody in the audience has to extinguish. Next a small wind-mill type device containing a large number of fireworks is lit (although small comapared to a Windmill, it stood about 20' high!). This too sends sparks and fireballs into the audience, and the crowd have to run from it to protect themselves. I end up smelling burnt hair and finding that my fleece has actually been melted on the arm and shoulder !! Not good. The current Nanny state of the UK would be having kittens if they’d seen this.
The following day we’re still aiming towards the Peruvian border. 20 miles down the road we are confronted by our first diversion, 3 miles later, we are confronted with our second, a mud-slide of epic proportions which engulfs the whole road, and is about 3-4’ tall at it’s highest. We are told that the road will be clear in 1 hour…not a hope…with the one tractor they are currenlty employing. There must have been a good 200-300 tons of mud to shift, perhaps even more. Some of the locals though waste no time in setting up a food and drink stall and seemed to be getting some business.
We are advised by some locals that there is a track that runs through the hills which will take us round the mud-slide and will only take about 30 minutes.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000894.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The mud slide !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000880.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Oh yes mate, no problem- we´ll have this shifted in the hour !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000855.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The source of the slide.
We decide to take it as re-tracing our steps will add even more time. The track is largely dired mud and rock and winds through the hills, we both have our moments where the mud is wet or the rocks are a bit too big. We also meet a few traffic jams where lorry met lorry or lorry met coach etc, and we saw a small truck which had crashed into a rocky hill-side loaded with ceramic tiles.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000836.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
A willing local who kindly guided us for the first hour or so on our mud-slide diversion.
Finally, two hours later, we meet the Pan American again and I see two men waiting by their vehicles as I come to the junction. They ask me whether the main highway is passable, and once they establish it isn’t, they thank me and jump into their cars and head off towards the track we’ve just left. I was quite bemused that a couple of locals would trust a Gringo with appauling Spanish to set off on a 2 hour diversion. We find a very basic comedor and I eat a few chocolate bars, crisps and a coffee for lunch as the hygiene doesn’t look so bright.
A few miles later we’re on a dead straight road with the right hand lane looking wet, as if it had only rained on that side, something I'd seen the previous week. Initillay I start off cautiously and drive on the wrong side of the road but an oncoming truck persuades me that I should return to my side. I move over and within a few seconds my front wheel starts to drift and before I can even think about taking evasive action I am unceremoniously dumped on the road and am sliding along with the bike. Fortunately we are separated soon after falling over and I am rapidly aware, as I slide along, that nothing serious has happened to me. We come to a stop and I quickly re-assure Phil that I’m ok……but there is tar everywhere. What had looked like water turned out to be wet tar with no warnings anywhere !The left hand side of my BMW suit was covered, as was the left hand side of the bike.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001514.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Not so chirpy this afternoon.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000920.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
At least the jackets not expensive !
After righting the bike and retrieving it from the tar, a closer inspection revealed that the front disc, both tyres, front fork, pannier, left hand handlebars, tank pannier and more were covered in tar. Not only that, but my clutch lever had snapped right at the pivot point and my Autocom press-to-talk switch had been ripped off as well. After trying to repair my lever with superglue, I accepted Phil’s spare lever from his Kawasaki and had to saw and file it to fit…but it worked. Not the smoothest operation but much better than crunching through the gearbox on the hair-pinned mountain roads-I was very grateful.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000825.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Overland solutions pannier displaying it´s second application as a crash bar, helped protect my leg, Cheers Ernie !
We set off again and got to Loja and found a reasonable hotel, where I stripped off my tar covered clothing in the garage and left it all in a bag for sorting out the following day.
My initial reactions to the tar on my suit were the hassle and inconvienience, followed by the thought that perhaps the suit was irredeemably ruined.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001516.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Hmmmm, a few hours after the accident.
At £700 I decided that it was worth a fight with the tar and went out shopping to look for suitable cleaning agents. It was Sunday and nearly all the shops were shut barring a few. I ended up with a huge washing bowl(approx 3' across!), some petrol, oven de-greaser, rubber gloves, scrubbing brushes and an assortment of other implements including a zest scrapper ! After experimenting with various combinations, petrol, followed by the degreaser, followed by hand washing with huge quantities of washing powder worked best. However, as I used the petrol to dilute the tar, it had the effect of spreading the tar around the suit fabric which made it look even worse, although evenly discoloured !.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000905.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Take one pair of BMW Rallye 2 trousers, soak in petrol............
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000929.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
....wait an hour, apply degreaser and - oh yes, much better !
Next I used the degreaser which had the effect of breaking up the remaining clumps of tar and getting some of the dispersed tar out of the suit. I did this a number of times and then washed the trousers and jacket which extracted the tar that had been loosened, however the suit looked a mess and I knew that hand washing in cold water was not going to get much more out.
The next morning I took it to a laundrette but they wouldn’t touch it as it smelled too much of petrol. They advised I try a dry cleaners and so I took it to them. The clothes were still very wet and looked very sad in the plastic bag I was carrying them in, the bag also leaked which made the whole affair almost embarassing ! The guy behind the counter disappeared for 5 or so minutes with the suit ( I think I held my breath the whole time) and returned to say that I could collect the suit the following morning. I was relieved and returned to clean the tar off my bike ! The joys of World adventure travel !!
The bike, as described earlier, had tar everywhere and so I took a methodical approach to cleaning it to ensure I wasn’t going to be surprised in the future when I may unsuspectingly lean against it or unfasten something. Finally I managed to finish cleaning it and was relieved to be seeing the end of the tar. In the cleaning though I discovered both the bolts holding the front caliper to the front forks were very loose !. I’d actually heard a rattling on the rough track when avoiding the mud slide but assumed my steering head bearings were on the way out. They wern't !
The next day I returned to the cleaners to discover that they required an additional 2 days to finish cleaning the suit ! In the mean-time I was liasing with John about his return to meet me in Peru and the spares and other items he was going to bring back and making my usual web updates.
One of the things I think I am starting to discover in Ecuador is that people seem to value friendship/relationship above money. I had occasion to use a phone booth which are in abundance out here and was told a call to the UK would be 32 cents per minute (The currency here is American $´s). I started a call to Vodafone to sort an issue out, which was never going to be a short call with their answerphone system, and the cents were racking up at double that rate, and so after 1 minute and 5 seconds I stopped the call and told the shop manager. She tried to argue that once you break the 2 minute barrier the call charge automatically increases to the next minute. This is not so in this case as I'd seen the cents flying round on the in-booth call charge meter you have for the duration of the call. I wasn't obviously bothered by the additional 32 cents but was bothered that my call would be far more expensive than I'd planned for. We discussed it and I offered to pay the 32 cents agreed but was told I had to pay 64 cents. After a further few moments I said this was crazy and put down 75cents, but by now, she would only accept the 32 cents . She also then apologised, which made a nice change. I had a similar experience with the mobile phone I bought in Otavelo. The Ecuadorians do genuinely seem more concerned that you are content with the outcome of whatever dispute you may have, than necessarily of the financial implications.(within reason of course).
Food and drink in Ecuador are generally a long way short of European cuisine. You can find reasonable restaurants but no native ones that I would say are actually good. One of Phil & I's pet hates is a Tomatoe juice they serve. It is green/yellow in colour and tastes like liquidised leaves and mud. The first time we tasted it, neither of us could drink more than a few sips. And I will give most things a go. - It is foul ! Unfortunately breakfast normally comes with Jugo de dia (juice of the day) and you don't always get a choice of what this will be and so we've had to leave a few of these now. Meat in particular is generally cooked in very strong sauces. We tried a mixed grill in Banos which they absolutley saturated in Garlic to such a degree that you couldn't recognise the meats by taste, I also tried a Beef Burgion here in Loja which was far too strong for my tastes.
Tomorrow, Thursday, I hopefully get my suit back, in whatever state, and we head for Peru and my reunion with John.
Mike
I wake up still feeling pretty rough but decide to attempt breakfast with Phil. I do just about manage that but conclude I am in no fit state to go on a walk-about in the town or to try one of the many hot baths that Phil has set his heart upon. I decide to stay in the dining room and spend the day backing up our photo’s and writing three more web entries. (The suffering I continue to endure to bring you stories for your educashun and pleasure !)
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001527.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The active volcano, Tungurahua, seen as we entered Banos.
Phil (and occasionally I), make a number of trips to the many hot baths (filled from hot natural springs) dotted around the town during the week, whilst I continue to recover. Banos is a quiet town and we both enjoyed relaxing, taking long breakfasts and generally taking things easy. We do though embark on one circular walk which takes us around part of the perimeter of Banos in the surrounding hills which wears us both out as it turns out to be about 6km over steep and rough terrain.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001510.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Phil at the end of one of the many "Gentlemens" breafasts we enjoyed in Banos.
We also tried to visit a local waterfall. On the drive out a young dog ran straight out under my front wheel-there was not a thing I could do except hold on and hope I didn't crash. It didn´t look-it wasn´t even aware that I was there. I stopped the bike and looked back, the dog was motionless and a boy was in the process of lifting him up. I drove back and by the time I'd got there, a man, presumably the boys father, was now carrying the dog, and the boy looked like he had another motionless dog in his arms now as well. I didn't know what to do. I shook my head with the sadness and confusion of the whole affair and looked at the man but he looked beyond discussion and just carried on walking. I didn't know what to make of it at all. The accident had happened in full view of an open air restaurant and a young business-like looking woman at a bus stop. I looked at them but they just seemed to accept it as part of normal Ecuadorian life, and I too, having been chased by countless dogs on the bike, had to accept it too. I know animal lovers in the UK will find this very hard to accept, particulalry my Mum, but there are many many wild and stray dogs out here-and they generally aren't seen or treated in the same way as at home. Very sad but a way of life here. Shortly after the accident the rain started to fall down and so Phil and I decided to return to Banos and do something else.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001499.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
One of two photos depicting Ecuadorian life making up a mural painted on a wall by a childrens play-sports area.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001494.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Originally we intended to leave Banos on the Wednesday but Phil is now near addicted to the hot baths and so we extend our departure to Thursday. I however realised on Thursday that I still needed to finish off a few jobs, such as sending my nieces and Nephews a few souvenirs home, and so the leaving day is extended yet further still again to Friday........ to Phil’s absolute delight !!
On the Friday morning we finally do actually leave Banos in a light drizzle and head off towards Cuenca, a city en-route to Peru. We are advised by Freddie, a guide we originally met in Otavelo, now here in Banos with a tour party, to take the first exit outside of town as the route is much quicker. We take his advice and the road deteriorates into ash and mud quite quickly. Soon we are discussing if we should continue or return to the “longer” route, but decide to continue. No sooner had we decided to stay with this route, we come to a river crossing where the bridge, and by the looks of it, half the surrounding hillside, had been taken out by an overflowing river. I look at the river and am relatively confident that I can make it across ok. However, the workman working on the new bridge are gesturing that there is an alternative route set up and I am dissuaded from trying to cross the river. (never again !) The track round turns out to be a nightmare in it’s own right. To start with, we have to take the bikes back up a muddy slope we’ve just come down, and then some more to take us up to a make-shift wooden bridge. The bridge was crude and was basically a series of 5” x 5”’s layed across some sort of support. To even start the crossing you had to bump your bike over the first ridge created by the first support and there was nothing at the sides to stop you falling off. I set off very wary, but realised that my aprehension had got to such a disproportionate stage, that it had becme a liability, so I had to just get on with t ! I make it but am immediately confronted with a muddy hairpin bend leading to a muddy/ash hill to my right. I’m concerned that I’m not going fast enough for the Dakar to keep sufficient momentum to avoid the rear wheel loosing grip and spinning. To my amazement the bike just chugs around the corner and up the hill. At the top we were confronted with a steep and muddy down-hill to negotiate. Neither of us are that happy but take it slowly and make it down safetly. The rest of this track is made up of mud and river crossings. By the end of it I’m really enjoying the challenges the track keeps presenting to us.
Eventually we’re back on the Pan American highway and quickly immersed in cloud which deteriorates into rain…and more rain until it is torrential. The road vacilates between being reasonable and awful with more potholes than road. This is the major highway through South America !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000940.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The Pan-American highway, one of the most major roads through South America !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001503.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
.....with added water feature in case you get bored dodging the pot-holes !
We stop for a coffee late in the afternoon and we are pretty well drenched. I take this opportunity to put on my BMW oversuit( Blobby suit to my friends!).
It’s a little late to keep dry but it does help keep me a bit warmer, and as the rain continues torrentially, actually does end up offering me additional protetction. Finally we reach Cuenca and Phil finds us a good hotel run by some Americans.
We have dinner in one of the smokiest atmospheres I have encountered since the average English pub in the 1970's and witness the beginning of a firework display in the town square to celebrate 450 years of its origin. Originally we see a guy running around with a large plaster/paper mache cow fixed to his head. On the cow are a number of fireworks exploding. As he runs around these fireworks are exploding into the audience, which has them running, and a small fireball ends up in a small boys coat hood which somebody in the audience has to extinguish. Next a small wind-mill type device containing a large number of fireworks is lit (although small comapared to a Windmill, it stood about 20' high!). This too sends sparks and fireballs into the audience, and the crowd have to run from it to protect themselves. I end up smelling burnt hair and finding that my fleece has actually been melted on the arm and shoulder !! Not good. The current Nanny state of the UK would be having kittens if they’d seen this.
The following day we’re still aiming towards the Peruvian border. 20 miles down the road we are confronted by our first diversion, 3 miles later, we are confronted with our second, a mud-slide of epic proportions which engulfs the whole road, and is about 3-4’ tall at it’s highest. We are told that the road will be clear in 1 hour…not a hope…with the one tractor they are currenlty employing. There must have been a good 200-300 tons of mud to shift, perhaps even more. Some of the locals though waste no time in setting up a food and drink stall and seemed to be getting some business.
We are advised by some locals that there is a track that runs through the hills which will take us round the mud-slide and will only take about 30 minutes. <IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000894.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The mud slide !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000880.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Oh yes mate, no problem- we´ll have this shifted in the hour !
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000855.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The source of the slide.
We decide to take it as re-tracing our steps will add even more time. The track is largely dired mud and rock and winds through the hills, we both have our moments where the mud is wet or the rocks are a bit too big. We also meet a few traffic jams where lorry met lorry or lorry met coach etc, and we saw a small truck which had crashed into a rocky hill-side loaded with ceramic tiles.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000836.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
A willing local who kindly guided us for the first hour or so on our mud-slide diversion.
Finally, two hours later, we meet the Pan American again and I see two men waiting by their vehicles as I come to the junction. They ask me whether the main highway is passable, and once they establish it isn’t, they thank me and jump into their cars and head off towards the track we’ve just left. I was quite bemused that a couple of locals would trust a Gringo with appauling Spanish to set off on a 2 hour diversion. We find a very basic comedor and I eat a few chocolate bars, crisps and a coffee for lunch as the hygiene doesn’t look so bright.
A few miles later we’re on a dead straight road with the right hand lane looking wet, as if it had only rained on that side, something I'd seen the previous week. Initillay I start off cautiously and drive on the wrong side of the road but an oncoming truck persuades me that I should return to my side. I move over and within a few seconds my front wheel starts to drift and before I can even think about taking evasive action I am unceremoniously dumped on the road and am sliding along with the bike. Fortunately we are separated soon after falling over and I am rapidly aware, as I slide along, that nothing serious has happened to me. We come to a stop and I quickly re-assure Phil that I’m ok……but there is tar everywhere. What had looked like water turned out to be wet tar with no warnings anywhere !The left hand side of my BMW suit was covered, as was the left hand side of the bike.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001514.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Not so chirpy this afternoon.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000920.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
At least the jackets not expensive !
After righting the bike and retrieving it from the tar, a closer inspection revealed that the front disc, both tyres, front fork, pannier, left hand handlebars, tank pannier and more were covered in tar. Not only that, but my clutch lever had snapped right at the pivot point and my Autocom press-to-talk switch had been ripped off as well. After trying to repair my lever with superglue, I accepted Phil’s spare lever from his Kawasaki and had to saw and file it to fit…but it worked. Not the smoothest operation but much better than crunching through the gearbox on the hair-pinned mountain roads-I was very grateful.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000825.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Overland solutions pannier displaying it´s second application as a crash bar, helped protect my leg, Cheers Ernie !
We set off again and got to Loja and found a reasonable hotel, where I stripped off my tar covered clothing in the garage and left it all in a bag for sorting out the following day.
My initial reactions to the tar on my suit were the hassle and inconvienience, followed by the thought that perhaps the suit was irredeemably ruined.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139001516.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Hmmmm, a few hours after the accident.
At £700 I decided that it was worth a fight with the tar and went out shopping to look for suitable cleaning agents. It was Sunday and nearly all the shops were shut barring a few. I ended up with a huge washing bowl(approx 3' across!), some petrol, oven de-greaser, rubber gloves, scrubbing brushes and an assortment of other implements including a zest scrapper ! After experimenting with various combinations, petrol, followed by the degreaser, followed by hand washing with huge quantities of washing powder worked best. However, as I used the petrol to dilute the tar, it had the effect of spreading the tar around the suit fabric which made it look even worse, although evenly discoloured !.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000905.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Take one pair of BMW Rallye 2 trousers, soak in petrol............
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/139000929.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
....wait an hour, apply degreaser and - oh yes, much better !
Next I used the degreaser which had the effect of breaking up the remaining clumps of tar and getting some of the dispersed tar out of the suit. I did this a number of times and then washed the trousers and jacket which extracted the tar that had been loosened, however the suit looked a mess and I knew that hand washing in cold water was not going to get much more out.
The next morning I took it to a laundrette but they wouldn’t touch it as it smelled too much of petrol. They advised I try a dry cleaners and so I took it to them. The clothes were still very wet and looked very sad in the plastic bag I was carrying them in, the bag also leaked which made the whole affair almost embarassing ! The guy behind the counter disappeared for 5 or so minutes with the suit ( I think I held my breath the whole time) and returned to say that I could collect the suit the following morning. I was relieved and returned to clean the tar off my bike ! The joys of World adventure travel !!
The bike, as described earlier, had tar everywhere and so I took a methodical approach to cleaning it to ensure I wasn’t going to be surprised in the future when I may unsuspectingly lean against it or unfasten something. Finally I managed to finish cleaning it and was relieved to be seeing the end of the tar. In the cleaning though I discovered both the bolts holding the front caliper to the front forks were very loose !. I’d actually heard a rattling on the rough track when avoiding the mud slide but assumed my steering head bearings were on the way out. They wern't !
The next day I returned to the cleaners to discover that they required an additional 2 days to finish cleaning the suit ! In the mean-time I was liasing with John about his return to meet me in Peru and the spares and other items he was going to bring back and making my usual web updates.
One of the things I think I am starting to discover in Ecuador is that people seem to value friendship/relationship above money. I had occasion to use a phone booth which are in abundance out here and was told a call to the UK would be 32 cents per minute (The currency here is American $´s). I started a call to Vodafone to sort an issue out, which was never going to be a short call with their answerphone system, and the cents were racking up at double that rate, and so after 1 minute and 5 seconds I stopped the call and told the shop manager. She tried to argue that once you break the 2 minute barrier the call charge automatically increases to the next minute. This is not so in this case as I'd seen the cents flying round on the in-booth call charge meter you have for the duration of the call. I wasn't obviously bothered by the additional 32 cents but was bothered that my call would be far more expensive than I'd planned for. We discussed it and I offered to pay the 32 cents agreed but was told I had to pay 64 cents. After a further few moments I said this was crazy and put down 75cents, but by now, she would only accept the 32 cents
. She also then apologised, which made a nice change. I had a similar experience with the mobile phone I bought in Otavelo. The Ecuadorians do genuinely seem more concerned that you are content with the outcome of whatever dispute you may have, than necessarily of the financial implications.(within reason of course).Food and drink in Ecuador are generally a long way short of European cuisine. You can find reasonable restaurants but no native ones that I would say are actually good. One of Phil & I's pet hates is a Tomatoe juice they serve. It is green/yellow in colour and tastes like liquidised leaves and mud. The first time we tasted it, neither of us could drink more than a few sips. And I will give most things a go. - It is foul ! Unfortunately breakfast normally comes with Jugo de dia (juice of the day) and you don't always get a choice of what this will be and so we've had to leave a few of these now. Meat in particular is generally cooked in very strong sauces. We tried a mixed grill in Banos which they absolutley saturated in Garlic to such a degree that you couldn't recognise the meats by taste, I also tried a Beef Burgion here in Loja which was far too strong for my tastes.
Tomorrow, Thursday, I hopefully get my suit back, in whatever state, and we head for Peru and my reunion with John.
Mike
